The chicken and quinoa — two core ingredients for your protein bowls and possibly your salads — will take about 20 minutes to cook, so let's get them going first so you can work on some other tasks while they're heating up. Make sure you have enough to create six protein bowls: three lunches and three dinners.
Season and Bake Your Chicken
If you're making six protein bowls and three salads, you'll want about eight chicken breasts or thighs — one piece per bowl, and a half for salads. If you're skipping on the chicken salad, just make six.
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with a nonstick oil.
- Arrange your chicken breasts or thighs on the foil (it's better if they're not touching) and then rub them with a bit of olive oil before seasoning liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. This should be somewhat neutral, however, as you'll be topping your dishes with different sauces and dressings.
- Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, ensuring an internal temperature of 165 F at the end (note: if it's bone-in chicken, you may need more time).
Cook the Quinoa
While your chicken is baking, start your quinoa. There are different methods for cooking quinoa, but this is my default. You'll want 1 1/2 cups of dry quinoa to yield 3 cups of cooked quinoa (it puffs up as it cooks); that makes for six half-cup servings (three lunches and three dinners).
- Fill a saucepan with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. For extra flavour, you can toss in a bouillon or veggie stock cube.
- Once you're at a rolling boil, pour in 1 1/2 cups of quinoa and reduce the heat to low. Cover your pot. Set a timer for 15 minutes.
- In 15 minutes, check on your quinoa; stir and fluff with a fork. Depending on the type of quinoa, it may be done at this point, or may need about five more minutes.
- Remove from heat, fluff, and cover while you finish your next tasks.